Here, the recession in the early 20th century leads to people carpooling to get around, with some making money from it by changing their passengers.

This practice rose and fell in popularity throughout the 190ac0s, with economic recessions often sparking rises in participation. But, in recent years since the tail end of the 2008 recession, ride sharing has persisted.

Part of the reason for this has been an increased interest in preserving the environment and reducing pollution. Yet, there are a number of extra benefits to ridesharing that many overlook.

Below, we look at some of these perks and why you may want to include more carpooling into your commuting.

How ridesharing can improve aspects of your life

Ride-sharing can be done with friends, family and now complete strangers. This added social and efficient way of traveling can have a wide range of benefits for your health. This includes physical, mental or economic perks.

Financial

One of the most obvious perks of ride sharing is the lower cost of traveling. This is not only what lead to its creation but also it’s popularity. But, many carpoolers often underestimate how much they save.

In certain cities, commuting is one of the biggest expenses of habitants. For these people, ride sharing makes it possible for them to save up to $1 per mile. This saving can lead to you keeping an extra $1,500 or more per year from regular ride sharing.

This makes a huge difference when considering you keep all the convenience of driving to work or the store. It’s also usually the quickest means of transportation, even when considering traffic.

So, to save yourself some money while keeping your travel to work quick and easy, ride sharing is a good choice.

Social

As mentioned above, financial savings is not the only benefit of ride sharing. Carpooling started out of social connection as well as economic need. Many people chose to ride share with friends and family. This not only helped them save money but also make their commutes more enjoyable.

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that ride sharing can help you socialise and may improve your social life. It acts as an efficient way to meet new people who think and feel similarly to get you. This has led to a rise in apps that make ride sharing more social-based and give you a hint about how this industry might evolve.

Physical

The physical benefits of ride sharing may be one of the most surprising perks on this list. But, carpooling can also reduce stress through improving social connection and saving you money. This has a host of physical health benefits like lower blood pressure, heart rate and risk of disease.

So, if you’re looking for an easy way to improve your physical health, ride sharing might be a good alternative to your regular travelling.

Mental

After reading the above section, this benefit shouldn’t come as a surprise. But, some feel that ride sharing may help improve mental health. This is through both managing stress and helping to combat depression. Both of these are stem from many of the same mechanisms discussed above. Namely, by reducing stress and improving your social connection and outreach.

These perks, along with those outline above, show the range of aspects in your life carpooling can benefit. This doesn’t have to come from a need to save money either. Family trips, journeys with friends, or more regular use of ride sharing apps all provide an easy way to increase carpooling.

So, if you’re looking at ways to spice up your commute to work, or even your leisure travels, consider ride sharing.

Give ride sharing a second thought

Ride sharing is a practice that has been around for decades and is still popular today. This form of commuting can provide a range of benefits beyond just helping you to save money. But, depending on where you live, the money you can save could be substantial.

Carpooling can be done with family, friends, or through one of many ride sharing apps to make travelling more fun, easy and affordable.

These apps can also be used if you want to start offering ride shares too. So, for those wondering, how do I drive Lyft with a rental? Or, how do I use my own car for Lyft or Uber? These are all easily explained through the sites linked above.